


Forever Young

by ishafel



Category: Highlander: The Series
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-04
Updated: 2016-01-04
Packaged: 2018-05-11 18:52:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 899
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5638069
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ishafel/pseuds/ishafel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>You're only as old as you feel.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Forever Young

**Author's Note:**

  * For [killabeez](https://archiveofourown.org/users/killabeez/gifts).



“But I haven’t heard of them,” Duncan pointed out. “Are they actors?”

“Fuck Miley, marry Harry, kill Justin.” Amanda smirked at him. “You seriously haven’t heard of any of them?”

One of the names sounded vaguely familiar, but he couldn’t think why. Maybe he was thinking of Harry Potter--. “Are they dating the Kardashians?”, he asked. It seemed like a reasonable guess. 

Apparently it wasn’t; Methos and Amanda both laughed so hard that heads turned across Joe’s. Duncan watched them from the far side of the table, smiling a little, trying to be a good sport. He felt a little left out, but he usually did when the three of them were together. Sometimes he did when he and Joe and Methos were together, too. 

Methos knew which Kardashian was which, and who they were dating and probably even why they were famous in the first place. He was ten times Duncan’s age, but he made Duncan feel old, sometimes. His dark head bent toward Amanda’s pale one, both of them looking at something on Amanda’s phone. A picture of a cat maybe, or a video of Donald Trump dubbed with Darth Vader’s lines. Methos had showed him both of them this morning, tried to explain why they were funny.

It wasn’t that Duncan wanted to be the kind of person who thought they were funny. He just didn’t want to be the only one who didn’t. 

There was a whir of wheels as Joe drove up beside him. Duncan turned and smiled again, a real one this time. Joe saw right through it, of course. “What’s wrong, buddy?”, he asked.

Duncan sighed. “Do you think I’m--,” he couldn’t even bring himself to say it.

“Think you’re what?”, Joe asked, following his gaze to Methos and Amanda, who were arguing about Facebook privacy settings. Duncan didn’t have a Facebook account. Methos had six, in preparation for future identity changes. You’re no one without the right social media history, he’d told Duncan. Easier to do it right, from the beginning, then try to fake it. One of the identities was obsessed with monster trucks.

Desperately uncool, Duncan thought sadly. He and Methos could discuss music, art, books, history, but when there was someone else there, even another Immortal, even Joe, who was pushing seventy-- he felt like a relic. “Behind the times?”, he asked, instead. 

Joe’s mouth opened and closed. “No?”, he said faintly.

“So, yes.”

“You hate everything that happened in the last fifty years,” Joe said. “Yeah, Mac, I think your outlook on life might be a little dated.”

Duncan winced. “It’s not that I mean to. It’s just not really my thing, I guess.” 

“Why are you even worried about it? You are who you are, McLeod. It’s not like this is a new development.”

Duncan glanced across the table at Methos and Amanda. Joe looked, too, and the corners of his mouth curved up a little. “You worried you’re too old for him?”

The absurdity of it made Duncan snort, and Methos look up and grin at them. “No,” he said, “not really. But I do wonder if I’m not enough sometimes.” 

Joe touched his shoulder gently. “Mac, if he makes you feel-- inadequate--.”

“Well, not exactly inadequate,” Duncan said. “Just tired. How can anyone who’s been around for so long still care so much about such inconsequential--. Joe, do you know who Justin Bieber is? Harry Styles?”

Joe was nodding. “Doesn’t everyone?”

“I don’t.”

“Whoa, really? I wouldn’t have thought that was possible, I gotta admit.”

Amanda went to the bar and Methos got up and was dragging his chair around to their side of the table. “You both look awfully serious. Did someone die? Did the Gathering start?”

“McLeod thinks you think he’s boring because he doesn’t keep up with modern culture,” Joe announced cheerfully. Duncan shot him a filthy look he ignored.

“He knows who the Kardashians are,” Methos said, “so he can’t be that out of the loop.” 

“I hate you both,” Duncan muttered.

Methos put an arm around him. “I don’t think you’re boring,” he said. “If anything, Duncan McLeod, you make me feel old.”

“I don’t really know who the Kardashians are,” Duncan admitted.

“It doesn’t matter. No one else does either. Trust me, McLeod, this is just a phase. You’ll outgrow it. Kilts will come back in style-- and not just for hipsters-- and you’ll feel like you’re back in sync with the world. The important thing is not to give up on it.”

“Still not getting a Facebook page.”

Methos and Joe both laughed at that. “No one uses Facebook anymore,” Methos said. 

Amanda came back with her hands full of glasses and set them on the table. “Bottoms up, boys,” she said. “what shall we drink to?”

“Growing old gracefully,” Joe proposed, and they clinked glasses.

“That doesn’t sound like much fun,” Methos protested, but he drank with the rest of them.

“Duncan hates fun,” Amanda said, dropping her glass on the table.

“Duncan is fun when it comes to the important things,” Methos said, and wrapped an arm around Duncan’s shoulders. “In a hundred years, you and I are the only one who will remember Justin Bieber.”

This time when they laughed, Duncan laughed with them. But he also made a mental note to Google Justin Bieber as soon as he got home, just in case.


End file.
